New website design? Check. New blog posts? Check. Updated social media strategy? Check. Company video? Errrrr… video?
Turns out, video can play a critical role in a company’s brand messaging and its use online is pervasive. Why? Because it works as a great way to communicate to customers and prospects and get across your branding message with clarity. So with the building of our new ECHOtape website in the works, it was time to take the plunge and create the first ECHOtape company video.
To help us with this task, we needed help – people with experience that had already been through the process and could advise us accordingly. We chose Purpose Video, a top notch production house who could help us craft our story without blowing our budget.
We wanted the script and the video footage to really tell our story with an inside view into ECHOtape and our people – get to know who we are and what we do for our customers. We also needed to make sure our message was clear and focused since the end video would only be 60-90 seconds long.
Through collaboration and numerous conversations, we decided that the takeaway message had to have three parts:
- We are focused (some might say obsessed!) on tape and helping our customers find the right tape for what they need to do. We don’t sell anything else. No packing materials, or film, or equipment. Tape is our life, and as the vdieo says “we eat, sleep and breathe tape”.
- We have decades of experience – over 40 years of it – and we are experts in our field. We know a LOT about tape, and because we know a lot about tape, we have a lot to share with our customers and we can really help them.
- Customers are our lifeline and every department in the company goes the extra mile for them each and every day.
So in a nutshell, we’re focused on what we do, we have the experience to back it up, and we’re ready to work with you for as long as it takes to make sure you are satisfied with our product. With a tight message in place, it was time to start filming!
Lights, Camera… Action!
For location, we decided to head to the place where ECHOtape was born – Montreal. The reason was simple: we knew that to tell the story right, we had to talk with the people who understand it best – our staff who works with tape and service customers every day!
Armed with a list of questions, I interviewed people (under hot lights sometimes!) with the hope of having them share their personal stories about what they do at the company and how they make it happen.
It took me a few interview sessions to get it right, but since I knew almost everyone I talked to, it was easy to customize my questions to each person and the value in the roles in which they perform. Over time, a powerful story emerged. Each interview was fantastic, and I was reminded about how long some people have worked for ECHOtape, and how much they have to share. I walked away from those interviews confirming that, YES, we’re obsessed with tape, but more importantly, people have wonderful stories to tell about how much we care about going the extra mile for our customers, even in small ways like shipping a few rolls of tape on a weekend to make sure that a customer’s production doesn’t get halted. As much as I thought I already know our people, I learned even more; that they are dedicated to the company and to our customers and take immense pride in getting things right on a daily basis. We are using these interviews as the basis for something that eventually became a documentary-style video.
We worked for three days, doing interviews and also shooting b-roll, footage that will show customers what goes on behind the scenes.It often took a while to get all the lighting and sound just right, but once we did, we were ready to roll. We’re still editing the final version, but here’s a quick screen grab:
Making a video is a lot of hard work, and a lot of peoples’ time and energies went into it. We are excited to launch our new video and it was great learning experience for us. The best news is that the next one won’t be so scary!
You know what was also challenging? Redesigning ECHOtape.com. Check out that process here, here and here.
